Sun Xiaojian closed the door. "Oh my god, I'm freezing to death!"

Lu Wen bit down on the metal aglets, shifting in his seat. For some reason, he wanted to get out and take a look. But he was neither the director nor the cinematographer, so what reason did he have to go out now?

The curtain of rain fell, and he could no longer see Qu Yanting's figure.

A layer of fog formed on the glass window. Lu Wen wiped it away with a tissue, but it quickly fogged up again. Gradually, a pile of damp paper balls filled half the table.

The last time, he wiped the fog away with his palm, and in the brief moment of clarity, he saw Qu Yanting returning from a short distance away.

Lu Wen shouted, "Brother Peng, another cup of coffee!"

Li Dapeng responded, "Coming right up!"

Lu Wen hunched over the table, pretending he had been reading the script all along.

Qu Yanting got on and returned to the small booth. His jacket was slightly damp, making it feel even colder. He unbuttoned it and took it off. The half-cup of coffee left was already cold. He didn't touch it, instead crossing his arms over his chest.

Li Dapeng brought a freshly made, steaming cup and placed it next to Lu Wen.

Lu Wen said, "Brother Peng, my throat hurts from memorizing lines. I'd like some Malva Nut tea."

"..." Li Dapeng was also about to call him 'my good lord'.

Once the screen divider was pulled shut again, Lu Wen pushed the cup forward. "Teacher Qu, if you don't mind, you can have this."

Qu Yanting reached for it. Lu Wen hadn't pulled his hand back yet. The pad of his finger was still on the cup, which felt hot. His fingertip accidentally brushed against Qu Yanting's fingers, which were as cold as ice.

He saw that Qu Yanting was only wearing a thin shirt and asked, "Want to borrow a piece of clothing?"

He hadn't brought many thick clothes to Chongqing, but Qu Yanting wanted to say "it's fine." This kind of weather would ruin clothes, and he didn't want to owe anyone a favor.

But Lu Wen had already gone to the bed to get something. He brought back that smoky purple sweater that made fair skin look fairer, tan skin look darker, and dark skin turn ashen. He had guessed what Qu Yanting was concerned about, so he deliberately chose this one.

Then he said intentionally, "Lending you clothes is secondary. I mainly want to see what effect it has on someone with fair skin."

Qu Yanting put it on over his shirt. It was a bit big. The shoulder seam fell to the spot on his arm where he'd gotten vaccinated, and the sleeves extended to the web of his thumbs, revealing only ten long, slender fingers.

The color complemented his skin tone, making him look exceptionally gentle.

The man had put it on, but Lu Wen averted his gaze and buried his head back in the script.

Qu Yanting also took out a pen and paper. Having scouted the filming area, he was going to redesign the storyboards. It had been nearly ten years since he graduated from the directing department, and this was the first time in a decade that he was officially drawing storyboards.

As he was about to start, Qu Yanting stared intently at the blank sheet of paper. Lu Wen quietly looked up, his eyes fixed on the pen tip across from him, worried that Qu Yanting had been away from the field for too long and had become rusty.

Suddenly, Qu Yanting put pen to paper, drawing panels, marking the shot number, shot size, camera technique, and main content, and allocating the seconds for each shot. He bent over his work, filling the entire white page without stopping.

Occasionally, for half a second, he would ask, "Finished reading the script?"

Lu Wen jumped, guiltily flipping a few pages, but he couldn't tear his eyes away. He watched Qu Yanting design the entire storyboard in one go, then switch to a new sheet of paper and, like a gambler who'd just won a hand, tap the tabletop with two bent fingers.

"How much?" Lu Wen responded by reflex.

Qu Yanting said, "Do you have a ruler?"

Lu Wen took a ruler from his cool black pencil case and handed it over. "What are you going to draw?"

Qu Yanting didn't answer. He held the ruler down and drew several lines. After setting up the framework for the area, he used solid and hollow circles as markers, solid and dashed lines as connections, and small angles to calibrate the scale.

He was drawing a blocking diagram. It specified the positions of the light sources, the direction of light projection for each shot number, and the lighting changes required for the characters in motion.

Qu Yanting finished drawing with a flourish, rolled up his sleeve to check his watch, and estimated that the various teams were almost ready.

He opened the work group chat and sent a notification: Let's get to work.

Not even three seconds later, Sun Xiaojian pulled back the screen divider and said, "My good lord, the costume and makeup teacher sent a message. They'll be over in two minutes."

Qu Yanting shook out his jacket and put it on, buttoning it with one hand while gathering the script papers with the other, then got off the RV and left.

When the costume and makeup teacher arrived, Lu Wen changed into a set of undergarments. For warmth and waterproofing, he had two layers of plastic wrap wound around the outside of the undergarments before finally putting on the costume for the shoot.

The sensation of being wrapped in plastic was intense. After getting out of the RV, Lu Wen walked toward the filming area like a resurrected pharaoh.

Harness up, safety checks, rehearsal.

Lu Wen and his stand-in took their positions, and the official filming began.

In the dense lines of rain, Ye Xiaowu walked briskly to the side of the road. Ye Shan caught up to him, and the two brothers argued in the rain. The wind was strong, and the umbrella in Ye Shan's hand was blown to the ground.

Ye Shan gripped Ye Xiaowu tightly. The two began to scuffle, both of them soaked to the bone.

In the distance, a van sped toward them, its headlights casting a strong white glare.

The curtain of rain was like the Milky Way pouring down; nothing could be seen clearly. Suddenly, in the midst of the intense struggle, Ye Xiaowu lost his balance. Ye Shan fell to one side, while Ye Xiaowu's entire body tumbled toward the road.

He looked up in panic. A bright light was heading straight for him, and there was nowhere to run.

His body suddenly felt light. Lu Wen was lifted by the wire, thrown in a shallow arc just grazing the road surface.

In the blink of an eye, Lu Wen landed on a brown mat.

A momentary dizziness washed over him. He closed his eyes, hearing the screech of tires skidding on the ground, hearing the endless, torrential rain...

Amidst the chaotic sounds, he vaguely heard footsteps drawing closer and closer.

The wind and rain seemed to stop. Lu Wen cracked open his eyes and saw an umbrella shielding him from above.

He murmured, "Teacher Qu..."

Qu Yanting held the umbrella and leaned down. He had just called "cut," but Lu Wen was still lying there motionlessly. He asked, "Can you move? Did you get hurt?"

"I'm fine," Lu Wen answered. "...I didn't hear you call cut."

Qu Yanting confirmed, "Are you really okay?"

Lu Wen nodded. His face was wet, and streams of water slid down from his forehead, trembling and converging between his brows. As a droplet was about to enter his eye, Qu Yanting reached out and wiped at the hollow of his eye socket.

That hand wasn't particularly warm, but it carried a masculine strength, as if it had fished him out of the cold water.

It wasn't until Sun Xiaojian helped him up that Lu Wen came back to his senses.

He draped an arm around the other's neck, hiding under the umbrella, and whispered as they walked, "Qu Yanting actually touched my face just now."

Sun Xiaojian: "What do you mean?"

Lu Wen said, "I could feel it. When I took that fall, he seemed to really feel sorry for me."

Qu Yanting had already returned to the camera's side, casually wiping his hand on his damp jacket.

Kang Daning asked, "Screenwriter Qu, how was it?"

"Not even close," Qu Yanting said. "The fall wasn't hard enough. Let's do another take."